Did the Senate Minority Leader just say he’ll be happy to see Bush go?

A top Republican said on Friday that Democratic U.S. President-elect Barack Obama is “off to a good start” and indicated he was pleased to see President George W. Bush get ready to leave.

“Our members, in one way, are kind of relieved by the departure of an administration that became unpopular and made it very difficult for us to compete,” Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell told reporters on Capitol Hill.

McConnell won 52.9 percent of the votes over Democratic challenger Bruce Lunsford in a surprisingly (to McConnell) competitive re-election campaign. Had he lost, it sounds like McConnell would have blamed it all on Bush, the man who employs McConnell’s wife, U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. McConnell has also been at Bush’s side on Iraq, cheering on the alleged progress that showed victory was just around the corner every year since he backed Bush’s ill-fated plan to invade.